Beret



Feb. 25, 1947. A.ANDRA 2,416,507

BERET Filed March 15, 1943 INVENTOR. ANITA ANDRA zww ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 25, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OI' FICE BERET" 7 Anita. Andra, New York;. N. Y Appli'cation- March 15, 1943', Serial No.47a193 particularly to that type known as a beret; A principal object of the invention is to provide a simple and attractive: cap of the beret type which can be worn as an article of dress for streetwear'.

A further object is to provide a new cap adapted to be worn by women employed in machine shops and other places where it is important for them to keep dust and grease out of their hair as well as to keep their hair confined to avoid getting it caught in machinery;

Within the last year or two, a number of safety caps have been offered to, and some adopted by various. plants throughout the country, for use by their female workers, but these have been deficient or unsatisfactory in. one respect or another, and, always at best, where adopted, have constituted a compromise. Certain of these devices constituted snoods which, while con-fining the hair, failed to keep out dust, oiland grease. Others took the form of tailored caps which fitted snugly against the skull, confined the hair and kept out dust, oil and grease, but were uncomfortable because of tight fit, and, being tailored to' fixed curvedform, could not be conveniently ironed though no difficulty may have been experi-.. enced' in laundering the same. Others were compromises between the snood and the boudoir or dust type of cap; with and without visor. It is one of the principal virtues of myin'vention that the beret is made out of a fiat piece of fabric which is adapted to be readily folded to form the article as it is to be worn, and to be as readily unfolded so that it may be conveniently laundered, dry cleaned, ironed and stacked compactly,

Where the female'employees are likely to come in contact with grease or oil, the fabric employed may be oilor grease-proofed. Oiled rayon may be used for this purpose, and it can be designed to have as attractive an appearance as, say, a printed cotton fabric with an attractive design.

The flat form is so designed that when folded in the manner indicated later, the resulting beret will comfortably fit the head around the band region, yet will have suificient space to accommodate large masses of hair without constriction.

Heretofore, berets have been made with an elastic band sewn into the beret proper and consequently, while it was amenable to dry cleaning or washing, it could not, because of its peculiar form, be ironed with the degre of convenience and perfection with which it was desired.

It is an important feature of the present invention that the beret may, by virtue of the material.

means hereinafter to be described, be flattened out, in a single plane, so that washing or dry cleaning and ironing can be expedited, and, thus thelife and'use of the article greatly increased;

By my peculiar construction also, the beret is endowed with a series of peaks radiating from the crown, producing a flare and giving to the beret a pleasing and attractive appearance.

It will thus be seen that I have provided an article consisting of a flat, piece of fabric which is designed to be convertible into a beret type of cap which can be used for dress wear or as a safety cap in industry, which said piece is preferably adapted to be folded in triangular folds around the periphery thereof" and thereby to effect apol'ygonalfo-rm in' the crown. The lattermod-e effecting the desired results is, of course", onepractical. mode of! application, the scope of the invention being measured by the appended claim..

. Referring to the accompanying drawingsexemp'li'f'ying a preferred embodiment of my invention,

Fig. 1' shows a flat blank of material fromwhi'ch the beret is formed;

Fig- 2 is a bottom view of the beret aftertheseveral portions of the blank of material have been folded over and united.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional View taken" on the line 3-3 of'Fig. 2, showing clearly the nature oflthe fold.

Fig. 4 is a sideview of the beret showing more clearly the series of peaks radiating from the crown,

Fig. 5 is a front view of the beret as it looks upon the person.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of the piece of material from which the beret is formed; showing a modified form employing snap fasteners instead of the button and buttonhole means of securing the folds together.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary cross-section showing the manner of securing the folds of the blank shown in Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawing, it will be seen that I employ a single flat piece of fabric II which may be substantially circular or polygonal, or cut to an irregular pattern depending upon the appearance intended to be imparted to the finished beret. Said piece of fabric may 'bear a suitable design and be provided with a lining If desired, there may be provided a lining coextensive with the outer fabric, and the lining and fabric may be secured together around the periphery, as by a fabric bead l2. At substantially equally spaced points around the fabric, the material is stitched on itself to provide very narrow tucks l3, which may be any! where from three to four inches in length depending on the head sizes to be fitted. From 1 the inner end of each of said tucks or gathers,

the fabric may be provided with lines of stitching as at l4 and I5, respectively, extending to the periphery of the fabric, the portions bounded I by the lines l3 and .15 and the included edge of the fabric, forming triangles which'are substan-i tially bisected by the line of stitching l4.

One. function of the gathers or tucks I3 is to is folded so that tuck l3 coincides with stitch line l5. Obviously, stitches l4 and 15 also serve to add a little rigidity to the fabric.

materials [5 to lie flat. Obviously, though, the tucks l3 and the lines of stitching I4, [5 may be omitted, if desired.

markation lines and buttonholes 18 are provided on each side of the tucks l3 adjacent the periphery, and in such manner that when the fabric folded along the tuck l3 the two buttonholes will register with each other so that 1 when the folded portion is brought over to coincide substantially with the line I5, the buttons I! may be passed through their respective registered buttonholes I8, as more clearly shown in Fig. 3.

Obviously, other fastening means may be sub stituted for the buttons and buttonholes. One instance of such modification is shown in Figs. 6 and 7, wherein snap fasteners are used in place of buttons. is shown attached to one portion of'the blank as at Ila, and the male element is attached to thefold as at [8a. In this instance, it is merely necessary to provide a perforation or opening in the intermediate fold of the fabric, as shown at l8, to permit the male fastening, element to extend through to reach the female element and retain the three plies of fabric in place when folded.

As stated above, it isnot necessary to provide the lines of stitching l3, M, or l5, since the portion having the two buttonholes may be A further, function of the tucks I3 is to enable the folded The female element of the fastener V stiffen the material, while lines of stitches l4, demark convenient fold lines when the material 4 merely pinched together with the thumb and forefinger to produce a fold with the two buttonholes in registry, and'then this fold brought over to engage the buttonholes over the button l1.

When the severa1 portions of the fabric have 7 been folded in the manner described and illustrated, and said folds secured in place by means of the buttons and buttonholes, the artcile will have the appearance illustrated in Figs. 2 and 5.

While I have described what I deem to be the=more desirable embodiments Of'lny invention, it is obvious that many of the detail may 'be varied without in any Way departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined 1 in the appended claim.

, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

An articl adapted to be formed into a beret comprising a fiat piece of fabric polygonal in In the preferred form shown in Figs. 1-5 in-, elusive, buttons I1 are provided around the periphery of the blank closely adjacent the de-- outline and having more than four sides, said piece being stitched to provide narrow tucks extending inwardly from the angles of the polygon to facilitate the forming of substantially uniformly spaced radially directed triangularlyshaped folds, with all of said folds being disposed in the same circular direction around the piece, coincidable buttonholes disposed on opposite sides'of each tuck and buttons disposed intermediate the tucks and adapted to be engaged by the buttonholes when the tuck portions are folded over in the provision of the folds, the edge of the fabric pieces and folds therein being thus disposed to constitute the head band of the beret.

' ANITA ANDRA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

1,880,819 Collins Oct. 4,1932 

